the burdens of being short (or perhaps not so burdensome after all)
by OnlyMyThoughtsForCompany
Summary: "You know, James. A normal person, in this situation would help their vertically challenged friend and get the book down for him." James never looked up from his phone, where he was dedicatedly texting his girlfriend. "A normal person would get the stool I pointed out on their way in." Or the Library!AU no one asked me for


Sirius hated being short. Like really, really hated it. Had his whole life. But he never hated it more than when he couldn't reach something.

His arm was stretched up as far as it would go, he was balanced on the tips of his toes and he still couldn't reach the damn book. Now normally he wouldn't be caught dead in a library but since his entire grade fell on him getting this book, he would just suck it up.

"You know, James. A normal person, in this situation would help their vertically challenged friend and get the book down for him."

Neither of the two seemed to hear the quiet snicker behind them at Sirius' words.

James never looked up from his phone, where he was dedicatedly texting his girlfriend. "A normal person would get the stool I pointed out on their way in."

"That is an insult to my…" Sirius broke off as he struggled for the word.

"Punkness?" James supplied helpfully. Sirius certainly did look very punk in his leather jacket, band t-shirt, ripped jeans and long hair, which only made him look even more out of place in the quiet library.

"Exactly," Sirius cried before attempting to jump up and tip the book off the shelf simultaneously. Needless to say, he failed, quite spectacularly.

"Uh gotta go Padfoot. You have fun," James muttered, still preoccupied by the phone in his hand.

"Right sure, go run off to your girlfriend and leave your best friend behind. You know the one you've had since you were eleven? You know when you were a scrawny nerd, friendless on your first day of boarding school? And I took pity on your titchy ass and decided you might someday grow into someone who would be cool enough to hang with me?" By the end of his rant, Sirius' voice had risen to a volume most would deem too loud for a library and his pale face had taken on a slight pink tint in indignation.

"Great, knew you'd be cool with it. Thanks Pads." James pocketed his phone with a grin, clapped his friend on the shorter on the shoulder and hurried off, mindless to the poisonous look he was currently receiving. At the end of the aisle he paused and Sirius' heart leapt hopefully, thinking that maybe his best wasn't going to be a total prick after all and not abandon him but all James did was grin mockingly and say in a teasing voice, "And Padfoot, don't climb the shelves again. Remember what happened last time."

Sirius scowled and flipped his friend off, not that he saw since he was already walking off with a laugh. Sirius hadn't been considering climbing the shelf again anyway, _thank you very much._ He remembered all too well what had happened last time. But in his defence, one would expect a library belonging to his prestigious school to secure their shelves a little better.

Sirius turned back to the shelf and cocked his head thoughtfully, wondering momentarily if he maybe if he was quick enough it might work this-

 _No_. He did not need to get kicked out of one of the few libraries in the area that he didn't hold a lifetime ban from.

Instead he rolled his head from side to side, cracking his neck and jumped a few times on the spot to psych himself up. Then he backed up, muttering quiet encouragement to himself as he did, "Ok you can do this. Who's the best footie player at school? That's right you are. No matter what James said. Just because Minnie's still pissed about the time you suggested she shave her legs if she wanted a date for Valentine's and made James captain over you, does _not_ mean he is a better player. Who scored the winning goal against Malfoy last year? That's right you did." And without any more preamble, Sirius took a great running leap, hand snatching furiously at the air as he sailed past his intended target.

Of course, he didn't come close to getting the book off the shelf and it was only sheer athleticism that stopped him landing him in a heap on the dusty library floor. He stumbled back a few steps as he landed, already glaring furiously at the book and _fuck_ how did he manage to push it further onto the shelf?

It was only the quiet laugh from the end of the aisle that pulled Sirius from his consideration of his climbing plan again. Sirius head whipped around and he almost fell over right there and then, because the guy trying to smother his laughter into his hand was beautiful.

First and foremost Sirius was struck by the height. The guy was well over 6 foot of gangly limbs, completely dwarfing Sirius' measly 5'6 frame. As most guys do, Sirius usually went after girls who were shorter than himself but when it came to guys, well, Sirius had nothing against them being taller than himself. Quite liked it, in fact.

Secondly Sirius noticed the amber eyes sparkling with mirth, closely followed by the spill of caramel curls peeking out from under his crimson beanie. The rest of him that followed was no less enticing, including but not limited to his adorable grey cardigan, rolled up to his elbows to reveal tanned forearms, the hand covering his mouth lightened only by silvery scars, the tight jeans he wore - here Sirius had to fight off the irrational urge to ask the guy to turn around so he could see how fit his arse looked - and the mysterious pink scar that ran diagonally through his right eyebrow and eye, stopping in the middle of his cheek.

It took Sirius a couple of sluggish blinks to realise the beautiful creature before him was speaking and he responded with a moronic "uhhh," the correct way to use his tongue escaping him for the moment. The guy laughed huskily, the sound like pure honey, making Sirius' knees shake and pulled his hand away from his mouth, drawing Sirius' eyes to his- _nope,_ Sirius certainly did not need to be looking at those perfect, kissable lips. Instead he looked back into those brilliant eyes and tried to focus as the guy asked in a slow, affected voice, "I said: did you need some help?"

And Jesus. Freaking. Christ. Sirius had always had a thing for accents and the soft lilt of the guy's welsh accent had Sirius reaching a subtle hand to steady himself against the bookshelf. Judging by the smirk that appeared on the guy's face, Sirius might not have been as subtle as he hoped.

Jolted by the realisation that the guy was still waiting for an answer and stumbled for a few seconds over a response before nodding stupidly, trying to ignore the heat he could feel flooding his cheeks. The guy's smirk widened and he walked forward, right into Sirius' personal space and without taking his stunning eyes of Sirius' reached up - and Sirius had to curse again as he realised that he didn't even have to fully extend his arm to reach the book - and snagged the book, pressing it into Sirius' uncooperative hands.

"Here," he murmured and Sirius had to forcibly restrain the shiver that threatened to run down his spine.

The guy waited for Sirius to stutter out a shaky thank you before grinning once more and wandering away, allowing Sirius ample time to realise _yes,_ his arse did indeed look even fitter in those tight jeans than he had previously imagined. As soon as the guy disappeared from sight, Sirius collapsed into the shelves, the book tumbling from his grasp and hitting the floor with an audible thump.

* * *

"Hey, arsehole, you do realise that we're all waiting for you right."

"James, I'm in love."

"Oh for fuck's sake. Hold on I'm putting you on speaker phone."

Sirius jumped from foot to foot as he peered through the gap between the shelves, keeping his eyes peeled for Beautiful Library Boy or BLB as he had so been dubbed. The sound emanating from his phone suddenly doubled in volume as his friends greeted him accompanied by the scrape of silverware on dishes, establishing that they were indeed waiting for him at the cafe they were planning to have dinner at.

"Ok how can you be in love? I thought you had the hots for one of the Prewett twins just last week," Lily's voice was soft and calm, which came as a relief after James' brashness a moment before.

"No, Lils. This guy is- He's just- I can't even- eugh," Sirius grunted finally giving up when his words failed to be adequate. "Just hold on, I'm sending you a photo."

"Great now we're in stalking territory," came James' sarcastic reply.

"Yeah, this is almost as bad as that time…" but the rest of Peter's equally sarcastic contribution was lost as Sirius pulled the phone away from his ear to text through the photo he had covertly snapped before.

He lifted the phone back to his ear, coming back in time to hear Marlene tell an embarrassing story of Sirius pursuing an extremely uninterested girl, the chiming tone of Lily's phone interrupting her halfway through. Sirius waited impatiently, eyes still raking over the library as silence descended over the line followed by a collective gasp from the group.

"He's…" James said and Sirius had to wonder if his best mate's unshakable heterosexuality had possibly taken a hit.

"Tall…?" Peter asked and Sirius repressed the urge to roll his eyes at the daft description.

"If I was single…" Lily murmured. Sirius grinned at James' ensuing outrage squawk.

"He's fucking hot," Marlene blurted out and Sirius had to agree.

The shot, he knew had been a good one, catching BLB right as the sinking sun's rays illuminated him. In the photo he was reaching up for a book on the highest shelf, his plain white tee riding up to reveal a sharp hipbone. His lip was caught was between his teeth and the profile shot highlighted his sharp cheekbones.

"I know," Sirius whined, chancing a glance around the end of the aisle to see if BLB was still sitting behind the main desk as he had been for the last half an hour, confirming that he did work in the library as Sirius had begun to suspect.

"Jesus Christ. I have half a mind to come take him for myself," Marlene said, practically purring.

"Hey back off bitch," Sirius growled back, not worried at all that he was going to offend his blonde friend.

And true to her nature Marlene just laughed. "Don't worry, love, you know I'm interested in that hot chick that works at the pub anyway."

"Listen," James said, suddenly all business. "Is the guy still there?"

"Yeah?"

"Then grow some balls and go ask him out, alright? You've got half an hour to do that and get over here, or we're starting without you got it?"

And before Sirius had a chance to argue, James was hanging up without another word. Sirius swore under his breath and vowed to look into getting some new friends, before stuffing his phone into his pocket and made his way up to the desk, snagging a book that had caught his eye earlier, on his way. He wasn't even sure if BLB was into boys.

He took several steadying breaths as he approached the desk, which quickly turned into an inaudible - he hoped anyway - gulp when he realised was BLB's accent was in full affect as he spoke into his phone, speaking fluent welsh to whoever was on the other side of the phone.

When he caught sight of Sirius standing there, he got to his feet with a smile, taking the books from Sirius hands and began scanning their codes into the computer, balancing his phone between his shoulder and his ear.

"Listen Alice, I've got to go. You know some of us actually have a job," BLB teased, switching abruptly to English. "Yeah, yeah, I love you too," he said distractedly as he began typing on his keyboard and Sirius felt his heart sink to his knees. It didn't matter now, he supposed, whether the beautiful guy liked guys or not. Sirius had a strict rule against going after people who were taken; it wasn't his style.

"Sorry about that," BLB said with a smile as he slid his phone into his back pocket.

"Don't worry about it," Sirius murmured, before adding out of politeness, "How long have you and your girlfriend been together?"

"My girl-? Oh you mean Alice," he replied, looking up from where he was scrawling the due date onto the card at the back of each book. "She's not my girlfriend. Just a close friend. My best friend actually."

"Oh," Sirius said, struggling to keep the smile from his face and his heart jumped back into his throat at once.

"Got a library card?" BLB asked, stacking the books on top of each other.

Sirius fished the card he had stolen from Lily out of his pocket and handed it over. They lapsed into silence with Sirius scrambling for something to say as BLB typed the number into the computer.

"Didn't have you pegged as a Lily," he said, breaking the silence as they waited for the ancient machine to do its thing.

"Sorry?" Sirius said, momentarily baffled before remembering that Lily's name would be on the back of the card. "Oh no, I'm Sirius but my friend Lily's a total nerd so I borrowed her card, knowing she had one to every library around. Not that being a nerd is a bad thing or anything," Sirius said in horror as he realised what he had said. "She's read every book in every library at least twice. I swear she's the smartest person I know. Reading's just not my thing," he finished lamely.

"Well for someone who doesn't read much, you've got good taste," BLB said, tapping a finger on the flowing title, _Le Comte de Monte-Cristo_ of the book on top.

"You're into French Lit," Sirius said, momentarily stunned. He had never met anyone his own age who also read French classics. He only read them himself because his mother had forced both himself and his brother to learn the language.

"Yeah, my Mam got me into them," BLB replied distractedly, before thumping the computer soundly, prompting it into action. After a whirr of activity the computer chirped happily and he slid the card back. "Well enjoy your books and have a nice day."

Sirius nodded and stepped away with a faint smile. He didn't make it more than half a dozen steps however before he was hurry back, to find the librarian watching him unabashedly.

"You want to go out with me?" Sirius asked and immediately wanted to kick himself. Why couldn't he ever think before he spoke?

"Why?"

"Why should you go out with me or-"

"No, why do you want to go out with me?"

Oh, let me count the ways. "You read French Lit so I'm guessing you're pretty bloody smart, you're absolutely gorgeous and have the sexiest accent I've heard in my life," Sirius rattled of, going with the philosophy, go big or go home. He was rewarded with a blush staining the beautiful welshman's cheeks.

"Well alright then," he murmured and plucked Sirius' wrist, swiping a pen off the desk as he did so and after searching for a place on Sirius' ink stained hands he scribbled his number down, squishing it between a line of poetry Sirius had found scrawled in a text book and a music lyric. "Call me sometime, Sirius," he grinned before slipping away to help a customer who looked on the verge of clearing their throat impatiently.

Sirius sank back against the hard edge with a sigh and a grin, before lifting his wrist to stare at the numbers, noticing for the first time that BLB had added a message at the end.

 _By the way, my name is Remus._

Sirius traced the looping letters, the elegant swoop of the R and heaved another sigh, this one sounding suspiciously adoring. And if he needed another ten or so minutes before he was able to walk without the aid of the desk, well that was his own business. Well his and the dozen or so other browsers who were looking at him with varying degrees of concern.


End file.
